The 2016 Kitschies Winners

I don’t normally run press releases here, but the Kitschies are a great award and holy crap the line up this year was great. So, over to Glen.

The year’s most progressive, intelligent and entertaining speculative fiction, sponsored by Fallen London, The Kitschies, the prize for “novels containing elements of the speculative and fantastic” have announced their winners for the most “progressive, intelligent and entertaining” books of 2015.

The Heart Goes Last, by Margaret Atwood (Bloomsbury) won the Red Tentacle (Novel) category, receiving £1,000 and a hand-crafted tentacle trophy. The prize was introduced by judges James Smythe and Nazia Khatun.

James Smythe said “Even as part of an incredibly strong shortlist, The Heart Goes Last felt like an astonishing achievement. It´s an unsettling view of a future that – like so many of Atwood’s novels – feels all too prescient. Funny and devastating and wonderful, we all loved it.”

Making Wolf, by Tade Thompson (Rosarium Publishing) won the Golden Tentacle for Debut, receiving £500 and a hand-crafted tentacle trophy. The prize was introduced by judges Sarah Lotz and Nikesh Shukla.

Judge Nikesh Shukla said “With such a strong shortlist that gave us mermaids, fallen cities, people waking up a different race and more, Making Wolf manages to excite and entertain in equal measure. A strong strange political thriller that oozes with one-liners and thrills galore.”

Jet Purdie received the Inky Tentacle for cover art for Sally Parker’s The Door That Led to Where. Judge and previous Black Tentacle winner Sarah McIntyre said “As judges, we loved exploring these books, opening covers that led like doors to lush endpapers, or admiring the more handmade-looking elements of illustration and typography. In the end, the book with the actual door on the cover charmed us the most, we loved the partially obscured London map and the way the design invited us to enter its story. Kudos to designer Jet Purdie who had not one but two books on the shortlist! ”

The Invisible Tentacle for “native digital fiction” went to Life is Strange, by Square Enix Studios. Judge James Wallis said, ‘The Invisible Tentacle shortlist runs the gamut of what is possible in digital storytelling, from AAA console games with eight-figure budgets, to spontaneous narrative happenings on Twitter. It was an amazingly strong list, from a really good year. We finally chose Life Is Strange for its updating of what a point-and-click adventure can be, with a great cast of characters, excellent writing, an intriguing rewind-time mechanic that drives a plot which refuses to go where you expect, and a level of immersion that challenges the player without putting off newcomers to interactive stories.’

The Black Tentacle, a discretionary award given to an outstanding achievement in encouraging and elevating the conversation around genre literature, went to the genre community, personified by Patrick Ness, for the response to the humanitarian refugee crisis. The fund Ness began raised £689,793.56 for Save the Children, from over 6,000 donors, including a marathon series of £10,000+ matching prizes from over 20 authors. Virgin Giving even waived their fees.

This year’s winners were selected from 176 submissions, received from over 60 imprints.